Glory In The Chase
by JinxJenks
Summary: The tale of four friends training to become hunters who lose the life of their mentor. They now have to find their own way in the world, but in a world full of ravenous beasts and shifty characters nowhere may be safe. The trust that these four hunters have in each other may be the best weapon at their disposal. Rated M for gore/mature themes/language. (I do not own Monster Hunter)
1. Sinew Dressed in Scales

The torrential rainfall could not drown out the cheery voices of hunters that echoed from the guildhall. Hunters and common folk gathered and told stories of the hunt over pints of whatever drink they chose; usually ale. The wooden floors creaked and the partially thatched roof leaked as the men and women sung their merry melodies. People danced and sang all the time here, rejoicing that they had made it back alive from the hunt, but tonight was different. Tonight they were celebrating the death of a particularly nasty Rathalos that had evaded capture and expiry on account of many hunting blunders. He was said to be cursed, or so the townsfolk chose to believe all too often. The hunters that had brought about his demise, after failing themselves twice before, were ignoring most of their admirers as they sat off to the side at their own table. Two of the hunters from their group had left the party earlier, but still two remained, and for the most part, the other people in the room left them to their business.

Children were not allowed in the guildhall, even on special occasions, but tonight a certain unwelcome local found his way into the building and through the crowds of familiar faces. In his tattered clothes he burst through the crowd and tripped forward, landing in front of the two hunters. He raised his head and gazed on in amazement at the magnificent colors of their armor. The man to the boy's right was equipped in a full set of Azure Rathalos armor as the scales shone blue and green in the dim lights of the bar, and what lay behind his seat appeared to be a matching gunlance with a shield. The woman on the other side of the table wore what looked to be Lagiacrus armor that fit her figure slimly, but it was white as snow. Two short swords with teethed blades leaned against the wall behind her. The two monster hunters turned their heads to face the boy at the same time and looked at him through their helmets.

"You guys look so cool." He said as he got to his feet. The man in the azure armor laughed a hardy chuckle and then looked behind himself. He grabbed a chair from the empty table behind him and placed it in front of the boy. He motioned with his hand for the youngster to join them, so he raised himself onto the seat and sat down. The man took his helmet off first and placed it on the table. His hair was long and straight, and a dark brown. When the woman took her own helmet off, it revealed frost white hair tucked back in a ponytail.

"What's your name, kid?" the male hunter asked.

"G-Gordon…" the child was obviously nervous, but not as much so as most people that the hunters had met – their weapons were intimidating after all.

"Well, Gordon, can I ask you were your parents are?" he said as he leaned his head against the wall lazily. The child answered with his head down as he twiddled his thumbs awkwardly back and forth.

"My parents are… dead." He said solemnly. The hunter was obviously taken aback by the sudden change in mood, but he retained his cool.

"I'm sorry to hear that…" he replied, almost not sure of what to follow up with. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, down to Gordon's level. "My name is Roderick, and this is Luca."

"Hi there!" she said sunnily. The child didn't know why, but he felt safe here, safer than he had been in a long time. Life on the streets had lowered his standards to the point where being surrounded by drunken strangers was safer than his usual company.

"What do you do to survive around here; a kid your age can't have a job." Roderick asked as he grabbed his drink.

"My older friends steal food for the younger ones… sometimes I have to help." He said as he looked at the hunter's face with sad, tortured eyes. Roderick knew he had to say something before things got too sad.

"What did your parents do for a living?" he could not think of much else to say.

Gordon's green eyes lit up, "They were hunters; like you!" he said cheerfully. Roderick laughed friendlily and positioned his hand beneath his own chin, supporting his head.

"Were they any good?" he asked.

"Of course they were good! They were some of the best hunters around. My dad even made his own armor!" he proclaimed his father's achievements with pride. Roderick couldn't help but be reminded of someone he knew, and he looked over to see Luca with her head down and her eyes blank in thought. "I bet you guys are awesome hunters!" Gordon said. He must not have known that they were the reason for the celebration.

Luca snapped out of her depression for a moment to laugh and remark on his naivety, "You could say that."

"And I bet you have tons of stories!" Gordon said as he pulled his chair closer and the legs creaked as they dragged across the wooden floor. Roderick slammed his mug down on the table and smiled as he leaned toward the boy.

"Stories?"

"Oh, great," scoffed Luca, "Now you've done it." She crossed her arms and leaned her chair against the wall.

"How much time do you have, kid?" Roderick asked.

"I have all the time in the world…" Gordon replied.

Roderick grinned a smile of pure sunshine, "Do you want to hear how we formed our first hunting group?" Luca pointed her fist at him.

"Dear GOD, Rod! If you tell this long ass story again, I'm gonna-!"

"Calm down, Luca. I'll keep it short this time."

"That's what you said last time…" she snarled. Roderick sighed and then looked at the child. Gordon had a look of amazement on his face; he would get to hear the story of real elite hunters.

"Do you want to?" Roderick asked.

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Okay, well…"

* * *

Monster Hunter:

Glory in the Chase

Our story begins twenty eight years ago in a small settlement south of Pokke village, a settlement with six houses as was usual for small mountain villages such as this. One day, the door to one of the houses opened, but as the red-headed owner of the house stepped out onto the porch, she realized that a small basket with a baby in it was just in front of her door. She picked the child up and looked into its eyes. The baby boy made an adorable sound that made her smile, and she knew that she would be taking care of it whether she really wanted to or not. She could not say no to that face. Every day she cared for the child and taught him all she could. The woman herself was a huntress of great prestige in the village and beyond, so the child grew up around weapons and mounted dragon heads on the walls.

Fast forward seven years and the child was already learning how to hold a blade three times his size. He couldn't yet swing a great sword, but he could hold it for more than a few seconds. The woman – her name was Sybil – had named her adoptive son Roderick in the hopes that he would become a great hunter. When on a hunt with her friends, two of them had died fighting off a raging Deviljho, but that was not the worst of it. Her two friends were lovers and they had left behind a seven year old girl named Luca; what else was she to do? She took the girl under her wing as well, and began teaching her just as she had taught the boy. The girl had long silvery hair that often fell into her face, but she refused to cut it still. One day, Sybil simply took a ball of yarn, grabbed Luca's hair, and tied it into a ponytail; Roderick just laughed at her as she tried to push her guardian away. The two children grew together, and formed a special partnership that was unexplainable. Many other children lived in the small village, but it wasn't the same kind of friendship. Luca had always been a tomboy, so the two often referred to each other as brothers, which confused others greatly.

The two of them befriended two other prospective future hunters, a boy and a girl. The boy was a smiley fellow that was almost always cheery, and the girl with bleach blonde hair was a shy, innocent girl whose father had pressured her into training. She wasn't a bad hunter; she just didn't have her heart or soul in the hunt. When she was around other hunters however, she seemed to perk right up and give everything her all. Time moved forward as it does, and for years the four adolescents trained for the day when they could finally hunt real monsters. Roderick was a fidgety character, he could never stick with one weapon, so he had spent day and night learning to maintain and use Great Swords, Gunlances, Long Swords, and after a few tries and accidently cutting his hand open, he even mastered the Switch-axe. Sybil was rightfully proud of her students, and her son.

Roderick was sixteen years old now and his friends and he were in the front yard of Sybil's house, waiting for her to return from her latest hunt.

"I think I've found my weapon of choice." Luca spouted with confidence as she tossed one of her blades in the air and caught it. Roderick was off to the side sharpening the blade of his gunlance with a whetstone.

"Hey, can you toss that over here when you're done, please?" asked Asher, the other boy on their team, as he brushed his black hair back with his hand. His long sword was tucked beneath his arm.

"If it isn't all used up, sure." Roderick replied lazily, slurring his words, as he focused on maintaining his weapon and nothing else. Cynthia, the other girl, was sitting in the grass beside him. She carefully cleaned each part of her bowgun with a soft cloth to a near mirror sheen. Her hands had a delicate touch of sorts that made everything of hers so much cleaner than everyone else's.

"Are you ready today Rod?" she asked in her usually soft voice.

"Yep, good to go…" he said, again ignoring all reality other than his weapon. He raised his weapon into the sky and it reflected the bright noon sun onto the grass. "Here." He said as he passed the stone to Asher and he began sharpening his own sword, after taking it out of its sheathe dramatically. Cynthia moved closer to Roderick and nudged his leg.

"Do you think she'll let us actually kill something again?" She asked to him. Before Roderick could answer, Luca interrupted.

"Don't count on it, may just be drills again." She said without much hope.

"I'm sure she'll let us kill a Giaprey at least." Reassured Roderick as he gave Cynthia a friendly smile. She blushed back and turned away as if to inspect her weapon. From the border of town, walked four people, three of them were hunters that they knew well – two men and a woman – and the fourth person was the village elder. He was an old man that was always dressed in heavy clothing with a long grey beard.

"Hey," pointed Luca, "Isn't that Sybil's hunting party?" the men drew closer and closer until they finally came to a stop in front of the four teenagers. Every one of them had a look of distance to them, as if they were not all there, as if they had lost something. And then Roderick noticed the helmet that the elder held in his hands, it was Sybil's. As well, one of the men held Sybil's custom bowgun in his hands and he put it down in front of Roderick and then whispered so only he could hear.

"I'm so sorry…"

Roderick held his sadness behind his glassed eyes, and even though his vision was watery he did not shed a tear. He got to his feet and approached the elder, slowly. Everyone watched as he grabbed the helmet and put it against his head; as if Sybil was still there in the helmet. "We won't give up." He whispered to her.

"_I live for the glory in the chase!"_ she had always said to them. As his hands tightened their grip on the helmet, his hands bled from the tips of the scales digging into his palms. Cynthia grasped her mouth in surprise and gasped when she clued in to what had happened and her eyes began to water as his did. Asher and Luca stayed sitting, but lowered their heads in mourning. Roderick let his arms, and the helmet, fall to his side as his eyes stung.

"How… how did she die?" he asked as he continued to supress his emotions.

The man who held the bowgun stepped forward and grabbed the boy's shoulder. "We were getting rid of some Giaprey… when a Tigrex swooped down. None of us were prepared, and she suffered because of it." He let go of his shoulder, "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay… it's not your fault." Roderick replied. The village elder remained but the group began to walk away, when the man turned around again.

"You won't want to see the body…" he said. When the hunters had disappeared, the village elder sat down in the grass with the teenagers.

"What do you do now?" he asked.

"We're not old enough to hunt yet… right?" Asher reminded him. The elder looked up and shook his head, but then smiled through his thick beard.

"That is the official guild ruling, but I am allowed to make my own rules for my own hunters." He said. Roderick's eyes lit up.

"You mean we can hunt!?" he said with a yearning flame burning in his brain.

"If you get properly armored and you show me that you can handle the easiest assignments, then I shall grant you hunter status." The elder replied with his arms crossed staunchly. Roderick grabbed his gunlance and shield and hoisted them up before folding the lance and placing it on his back, clicking into place on its holster.

"We need better armor." He said. The village elder gave a deep laugh and then stood up on his rickety old legs.

"I'll talk to the armorer and see if he can do us a favor. One last favor for Sybil…" he said as he began to walk away.

Asher got to his feet and went over to shake Roderick's shoulders, "Are you crazy? We're not ready to take on monsters by ourselves!"

"Yes, we are! We can do this with the four of us, easy." Roderick retorted.

"Maybe we'll even get to kill that bastard Tigrex…" mumbled Luca below her breath.

"I'm not sure about this, Rod…" worried Cynthia as she gripped her bowgun and stared down at Sybil's weapon and then at the helmet beside it.

"We have to try and support ourselves, because without Sybil here we have to be our own teachers; not to mention that now it's just me and Luca in this house…" he motioned toward the well-made log house that they stood in front of. This was the only home he had ever known and now it really was his, it made him mournful but he remained strong regardless.

* * *

The hunters from Sybil's party had felt ashamed for not bringing her back alive, so they took it upon themselves to help craft some basic armor for the youthful hunters. They went exploring in the mountains day and night just to gather the materials that they would require. By the end of the week, there had been crafted three sets of blade master battle armor – two to fit men and one to fit a woman – and a gunner battle armor set. Armor sphere after armor sphere went into ensuring that their armor was as tough as it needed to be. On the day when they finally received the armor, the new hunters were overjoyed. Roderick rushed into the house and stripped down to nothing before slipping on his new attire and it fit like a glove in every area. Everyone looked like a real hunter then and it felt like they might be ready to go.

"If you make it back from this hunt," Said the male hunter, who looked remarkably like a samurai in his dark armor, "We have a gift for you." He teased. Roderick smiled and gave the man a hardy hand shake that was weighted heavily by their gauntlets. The three hunters left once again, and the village elder was again alone with this village's newest hunters.

"Do you want your first mission?" he asked with a smile. Roderick nodded sharply.

"Of course we're ready!" he said, without any input from his comrades. The village elder laughed a bit and then handed him a piece of paper. The look of confusion on Roderick's face made the elder giggle a little.

"Uh, this is a mission to hunt Popo, but we've already killed things as tough as Giaprey so why are you sending us out against these tusked fuzz balls?" Roderick said with disgust.

"It's your first hunt; you need something easy – besides, someone needs to collect food for the village." The village elder gave the anxious hunter a coy smile and a chuckle.

"Sigh… fine, let's get going guys!" he pointed off towards the village's hunting grounds as they prepared for the hunt.

* * *

It was early the next morning when they had finally arrived at their destination, a hunter's tent fit with a BBQ spit and a box of emergency supplies. Roderick sat his tired behind down on the four person bed and let out a sigh as he laid back. Luca walked over to him and gave him a Charlie horse right in the one place on his thigh that was not armored entirely. "Get up." She said.

Roderick sat back up and flipped her off, but she just laughed and spun her swords around in her hands like a baton thrower would twirl a baton to show off. Cynthia began loading her bowgun with ammunition so Roderick figured it was time for him to do the same. He unfolded his gunlance and then flicked it forward while depressing a button on its underbelly, which made the barrel collapse forward and the chamber where the ammunition was deposited to be shown. He put five rounds in the chamber and then flicked it back into place. Asher released his sword from its sheathe and began practicing his forms outside of the tent.

"I can't believe we're only hunting Popos." Roderick reminded them, bitterly. Cynthia shrugged.

"At least we're getting out of the village for once."

"Yeah, I guess…" he mumbled back.

"Are you sure Sybil would be okay with us hunting like this?" Questioned Luca as she sat in a foldable wicker chair.

"It's what she trained us for and it's what we're going to do." Roderick said with confidence. Luca continued playing with her swords.

"But she said herself that we weren't ready yet." She reminded him.

"Yeah, well who in the hell is going to teach us now? Hm?"

The room went dead silent for a moment. Maybe Roderick was being a bit too harsh, even if it was the truth of the matter. All of the other hunters were far too busy to bother training them like Sybil did. She had a dedication that none other could match, and a heart of gold.

"How many Popo do we need to kill?" asked Asher as he returned from his practice.

"If my math is correct then we should need to kill two, which should be enough meat." Roderick replied with his fist under his chin. Asher clapped his hands together.

"Alright then, when are we gonna get a move on?" he asked cheerfully and full of energy. The three hunters looked at him and Roderick scoffed.

"We only just got here. Take a seat and rest for a bit; we'll be setting out within the hour."


	2. Jaws of Bone

Their steps imprinted the shape of their boots into the soft ground at the base of the mountain. The four hunters looked off at the crystal blue lake that reflected the beautiful mountain scene on its other side. Soft wet grass cushioned their noisy and clanking steps as they walked forward under the golden sun. It was a sight to behold. Roderick had seen the scene many times before, but it struck him as dumbfounding every time he gazed out at the serene looking water. It was calming before the hunt begins; a feeling of tension in the lungs that got the blood rushing through his body before he unfolds his gunlance. He received a tap on his armored shoulder from Asher to take him from his stupor and plopped him back into reality. He nodded back at his friend, his hunting partner, and they all continued forward, looking for any Popo that might be grazing.

Cynthia ran ahead and scouted out what was over the hill ahead of them. She motioned with her right hand for them to hurry as she got low to her knees and then equipped her bowgun. Roderick ran forward with his knees bent to cushion his noisy steps more and he got down beside Cynthia as he approached her. "A whole pack of them." She whispered.

Over the hill was an entire herd of the large, woolly, brown, tusked creatures known to people as "Popo." Roderick unfolded his gunlance, slowly to be quiet, and held it frontward as he waited for everyone to take position. Luca and Asher joined them atop the green hilltop and they stood as they waited for someone to give some sort of signal. "I'll charge them; you two follow me. And Cynthia, remember that you only need to hit two." Roderick reminded. Cynthia nodded her head and bit her lip. "Okay, let's do it."

He rose to his feet and hoisted his weapon into the air before running forward. He used the momentum he gained from running quickly down the hill to get up to charging speed. Luca and Asher followed him closely behind and waited for Cynthia to make her mark. Suddenly, two bowgun rounds flew through the air and hit two different Popo in their front legs.

"Nice shot!" complimented Luca. Whether Cynthia heard her or not, Luca couldn't care less. The creatures, which resembled trunk-less mammoths with antlers for tusks, roared in pain and the majority of the herd turned away to flee from the violent sounds of battle. Roderick sprinted as hard as he could with his heavy weapon in his left arm and placed its blade in the side of the Popo. It roared back and then turned so the blade slid from its flesh. It turned to face the hunter and then rammed him. Roderick placed his shield in front of the blow and was sent sliding back in the grass, leaving a trail of flattened green in front of him. Asher slashed his long iron sword at the head of the Popo and it bellowed agonizingly as it began to stumble. Luca jumped at the second Popo and ripped its flesh with her toothed blades; blood coated her chest in a layer of red. Asher noticed that with her smaller blades that she would need help so he left Roderick in a flash. Roderick ran at the beast and rammed its hard head with his shield to return the favor, which made it cringe violently. Cynthia shot the same Popo with her own rounds and it continued to make pained sounds. Roderick struck the final blow in the Popo's chin and then pulled the trigger on his gunlance, which blew a hole in the bottom of the beast's head. After he removed the lance's blade from the flesh of the creature he stabbed it into the ground and leaned against it. He deserved a rest after that.

He looked over at the other pair of hunters and was relieved to see that they were successful as well. He then turned to see that Cynthia was running down the hill with her weapon placed on her back. She came to a stop beside him and grabbed his arm. "You were great!" she said. He shook her hand off and then grabbed her opposite shoulder with his shield arm and pulled her closer. She blushed as he crushed her against his armor as they stood side by side.

"No, YOU were great." He said. She didn't mind being so close to him, but he was sweaty and full of adrenaline, which made her sweat and blush even more. "Is something wrong?" he asked her worriedly.

Cynthia then realized that she had been staring deep into his eyes for the past few seconds without even realizing it. It made her blush even more to know that he was concerned about her. "No-no-nothing's wrong! Everything is fine!" she said as she pushed away from him and he shrugged. Roderick grabbed his gunlance from under its barrel and pulled it from the dirt before folding it and returning it to his back. After the tension had subsided both of them looked down at the bloody carcass of the gentle giant that they had killed.

"Most girls would be puking right now." Roderick said with a sly smirk on his face.

"Well… most girls make ME puke." She thought she was being smart, but Roderick just laughed.

"You really are funny, you know that?" he giggled.

Cynthia laughed with him as she loaded her gun with a different kind of round. "This should tell the village that we're done." She said as she pointed her bowgun into the sky. She pulled the trigger and a red shot of light raced off toward the heavens. It went up for nearly one hundred metres before exploding brilliantly in a show of red light and sparks. Maybe they hadn't hunted anything too impressive, but this was the first of many steps in their journey to becoming elite hunters.

* * *

Later that day after sitting with the corpses for more than an hour the other village's hunters finally arrived with big carts to take away the carcasses for carving. Makoto was the name of the man in the dark armor, and he had something wrapped in paper on his back, something large. He smiled as he unburdened himself of the object and then passed it with two hands to Roderick. Roderick put his gunlance and shield on the ground and accepted the gift with eagerly shaking hands.

"Open it." He told him. Roderick tore into the packaging paper and saw what appeared to be bone underneath. He continued tearing away until it was revealed to be a great sword that had the teeth of a giant monster on its blade, to tear through flesh with.

"Is this what I think it is?" he whispered.

"A Jaw-Blade… I made it myself from the bones of a Rathalos." Makoto answered as he continued to smile.

"Thank you so much!" Roderick said as he bowed respectfully.

"I know you didn't want to touch any of your mother's old weapons, and that Gunlance was the only weapon you ever actually owned, so I made you a second weapon." He explained. Roderick loaded his gunlance on his back and then grabbed the Jaw-Blade by its fur covered hilt. After years of training, he held the blade with practically no effort involved. He stabbed the blade into the ground and held its hilt with pride.

"I can't tell you how happy I am to have another weapon." He laughed. Makoto laughed back and held his gut. "What's so funny?" Roderick asked.

"You remind me of myself when I was your age." He stopped laughing and composed himself as he looked off toward the carcasses. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to go load those Popo on here." Roderick watched as the Samurai walked off and left him with his gift. Now Roderick had to wonder how to get both of these weapons back home without breaking his back…

"Hey, Rod!" Cynthia called out to him from across the field as she ran toward him with something in her hands.

"What's that you got?" he asked. She stopped in front of him, and he looked down at the bowgun which she held in her hands. It was Sybil's bowgun.

"Chichi gave it to me and told me that Sybil wanted me to have it." Chichi was the other woman on Sybil's old hunting party. A hammer wielding, headstrong woman and a lot like Sybil in many respects. The Bowgun in question was beautiful to the eyes of anyone with any taste in bowguns. Made from the emerald scales of the queen of the Land, the Rathian, the female counterpart of the Rathalos, this bowgun had firepower that Roderick had scarcely seen matched. He would rather it be locked behind a glass case in his house; however, he would never disrespect his master's wishes and there was no better wielder left in this world than one of her own Protégés.

"It's amazing…" was all he could force his tongue to say before he got his brain working again. "We're beginning to look like real hunters now." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"I know! I never would have pictured it." She gripped the bowgun with gentle hands that made sure it would stay secure; it made Roderick feel better about letting her have it.

"Someone must have heard that I've been practising with the hammer." Said Asher from behind Roderick's back. He turned around to see Asher with a giant iron hammer slung over his shoulder in a cocky pose.

"Nice!" Roderick commented.

"Don't forget me." Reminded Luca as she came from behind and flaunted her new sword and shield with her old swords still on her back. It was made of tempered iron and steel like Asher's weapon, but it was curved in places to rip apart her foes; a cruel but effective tactic.

"You're looking good too!" Cynthia said.

"Are we gonna stand here, covered in blood for the rest of the day or are we gonna get back to town?" Roderick interrupted as he pulled his blade from the ground and then positioned it on his shoulder in a comfortable way.

"That's up to you." Mocked Asher, "Are you going to be an ass all day?" everyone began to laugh, including Roderick.

"I'll take that as a yes and get moving." Everyone continued to giggle friendlily as Roderick led the way back to the village.

* * *

That night Roderick awoke early in the morning from a nightmare that he had been having all that week. It made him shudder just to remind himself of it. In the middle of a thick forest, Sybil would scream his name over and over, but he could never find her and then he would hear the roar of the fearsome Tigrex. Then just when he thought it was over; The Tigrex would rush at him through the brush and attack him, waking him up as he did. His skin was deathly pale after it was all over, and sweat ran down every inch of his body. He got out of his fur covered bed and walked out of his room and down the hall. He went outside onto the porch, still in his sleepwear, and looked off into the distance as he leaned against the railing.

It had been more than a week since she had passed, but it felt to him as if she were still there, in her house and walking down the dirt streets of the village during the day. This illusion was tearing his mind apart little by little, pulling at his mind's strings. He couldn't take much more of this torture before he went insane. All of the blood and gore that was included in a hunter's life never did manage to get to him, but the thought of being without his mentor, his mother, was nearly unbearable.

The night sky slowly turned orange from the rising sun, but the stars remained in the sky; it was a beautiful sight as the clouds turned a stunning mix of purple and orange and danced in the sky with the wind. It calmed him, but did not manage to relieve him of the pain that struck at his mind. He fell back into the chair behind him and rubbed his tired forehead. Maybe he should have gone back to sleep.

A hand landed on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Roderick turned to see that it was Luca, still in her red nightgown. The girl sat down beside him and grabbed his hand. "Still the same Nightmare?" she asked. Roderick had talked to her about it before, but it never ceased to make him feel as uncomfortable as he could possibly be.

"Yeah… I just need time…"

"Maybe you should go talk to the elder?" she suggested. Roderick shook his hands free and stood up from his seat.

"I shouldn't be dependent on others to solve my problems for me. This is my problem and I'll fix it." He didn't understand at the time how grief worked, but his resolve would not weaken no matter what she said to convince him otherwise.

"Fine, but that pride of yours is going to be the deaths of us all." Luca said before walking back off to her bed. Maybe she was right, but maybe Roderick was right. In any case, he would not doubt himself; he would not talk to the elder about it.

* * *

"Are you ready for another quest?" Asher asked Roderick. Asher could tell that something was off about Roderick, but he could not plant a finger on the reason behind it all. Roderick grabbed his Jaw-Blade off of the grass and attached it onto his back so it would not fall off.

"I'm ready as soon as everyone else is." He said.

"Good; Cynthia's just getting her armor on and then she'll be out." Asher said. The two hunters were waiting outside of Cynthia's house for both her and Luca, whom was still at home changing.

"Did you grab a quest already?" Asked Roderick with crossed arms.

"Yep, we have to kill a few Giaprey; shouldn't be too hard." Asher answered. Sybil was on a similar hunt when she was killed. The thought of it made Roderick's stomach turn over like a Barbeque spit. Cynthia came running down the wooden steps of her house while Roderick was still in mid-thought, so when she ran up to him and grabbed his arm he nearly jumped out of his own skin.

"Oh," she said sheepishly, "Did I scare you?"

"A little…" he said with a face as red as Rathalos scales. He had seldom been embarrassed in his life, so it was awkward to see Asher off to the side giggling at him. Luca came running down the dirt path and she came to a stop in front of Asher.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Nothing…" Asher was barely able to speak after laughing so hard. Roderick walked over to him and hit him in the back of the head to which he replied with a frown!

"Are we going or not?" Roderick asked with frustration apparent in his voice.

"Okay! Okay! We're going!" Asher snarled at him.

"Then let's be off!" Luca cheered. The four hunters walked over onto the road and looked off toward the path to the hunting grounds, keenly. Cynthia reloaded her Bowgun as they slowly walked forward and Luca began examining her sword for any imperfections that could be fixed with a quick whetting. This would be a daily occurrence now; they were sanctioned hunters, even if they were below the preferred age, and life would continue to become more and more difficult for them. But how hard could a group of Giaprey be?


	3. Steep Ascension

"So, off we went on our journey to the mountain, to slay the Giaprey and ward them off of the village." Roderick said as he continued his story. Gordon was listening with more interest than he had ever given to anything. The hunters could tell that he was thoroughly enjoying their story of grandeur, and all they were hunting was Giaprey.

Roderick was about to continue until the bar keeper approached their table and crossed his arms whilst shaking his head.

"No kids allowed." He said. Roderick took a large swill on his tankard and put it back down before getting up out of his seat. He was a half-foot taller than the Tavern owner.

"He's our guest," he spoke menacingly as he leaned in closer to the bartender, "Now, if you would be so kind as to fetch us all a warm meal, I'll pay." Gordon watched as the Barkeeper reluctantly returned to his post and began slicing pieces of meat off of one large beast that lay upon the counter. Roderick sat back down and rubbed his hands together.

"Alright now," he said excitedly, "where were we? Oh yes…"

* * *

The snow crunched beneath the feet of the quartet of hunters as they trekked up the mountain with grey clouds looming overhead. Weighed down by their fur, scale and metal armor the four Monster hunters trudged through the icy mountain snow banks with their weapons hanging readily on their backs. How hard would a few Giaprey be, they had asked themselves before the journey had begun. Little did they know, their current apparel had turned the glacial environment into an even more fearful predator than their marks.

"H-holy C-c-c-crap…" Luca whispered to herself as she tried to ignore the rattling sound of her armor clattering against itself as she shivered on.

"I th-th-think those h-h-hot drinks would r-r-really hit the spot r-r-right now…" suggested Roderick as he motioned to Asher. Asher, shivering just the same as his compatriots, reached into his pack and produced from it four red phials of liquid. They each downed their shot of the mixture and instantly the shivering stopped as their veins were filled with an instant warming sensation that seemed to block out the cold, but allow in the heat.

"My goodness…" said Cynthia as she wiped her mouth with her freezing cold armguards, not even flinching as the cold steel touched her skin; she could not feel the iciness in the air, or the snow, not anywhere, "That feels great!"

"I have two more, we can share them if it comes to that." Asher said as he closed his pouch up again and slung it over his side, shrugging his hammer back into place as well.

They continued up the mountain, scarcely passing a sole tree on their side, always bent and weathered by the harsh mountainous climate that so many monsters seemed to thrive in. They knew where the Giaprey nest was from when Sybil took them all on a hunting trip one time, and it was farther up the mountain than Roderick had wished anyone to go. Regardless, this was their job and they would be getting it done no matter the dangers. The steep mountain was difficult to scale up, but Roderick was determined to make his way to the nest and force the Giaprey's migration away from their village.

The group of hunters finally met their hands with a ledge that was no longer steep, and they scrambled to get off of the icy incline and onto flat land once more. The stone up this high was completely frozen over. Roderick grabbed the hilt of his Great sword and prepared for anything that may be watching them. The others climbed up onto the icy rock surface and slowed down to a walking pace.

"They must be somewhere around here." Roderick said as he saw his breath linger in the air in front of him. He was more thankful than ever for those hot drinks.

"Get ready," Luca said, "They could be anywhere." She equipped her sword and shield, holding it at the ready with an intense look in her eyes.

Roderick stopped and kneeled down to brush away some of the powdery snow that blanketed the mountain. Beneath all of the snow was a pile of bones, mostly Popo from what he could see. To the north there were tracks, the tracks of a predator. He took his great sword and held it forward imposingly.

"The Giaprey are trying to lure us forward, for an ambush." He said, "But I know that Giaprey pile the bones of their kills in the nest, so we must already be here."

"They're smart bastards." Asher said as he slung his hammer over his shoulder and walked alongside Roderick as the two of them advanced forward, carefully. Roderick halted his movement when he heard the pattering of claws.

"Shhh…" he said. The sound continued. Roderick slowly walked over to the mountain wall, and swung up his sword before smacking the blunt end on the rock face. The rocks shook slightly, and then, not even a few metres away a pile of snow fell from above them and was then followed by a light blue raptor with a red crest upon its head and a yellow beak with razor sharp teeth. A Giaprey. The monster did not land on its feet; it instead fell onto its side and thrashed about for a few moments shrieking before finally jumping back to a standing position. It looked at the hunters inquisitively with its beady yellow eyes before it began to hiss and back up slowly. The rapping sound of more claws upon stone could be heard and six more Giaprey jumped from the ledges up above and onto the floor of their nesting cave. They all hissed and made their cackling cries at the hunters that would threaten their territory.

All four of the hunters readied their weapons.

"Steady…" Roderick told them to hold while he evaluated the situation. The raptors continued to hiss at them threateningly.

"Now!" he cried out.

The three blade masters ran forward with their weapons ready to strike while Cynthia pressed her bowgun's scope against her eye. The pack of Giaprey ran at them with fangs barred and their stubby arms flashing their claws forward. Roderick pressed the head of his blade against the ground and held the giant sword in front of him to block the fangs of the predator from reaching him. The raptor that was attacking him staggered back and Roderick used this time to swing his sword around. The Giaprey received the blow and got a chunk of its neck ripped off by the teeth of the blade. It went to strike once again, but as it jumped at Roderick, he swung his blade vertically down at the monster, snapping its spine with the weight of the weapon.

Looking over, Roderick could see that Asher had already killed one by smashing in its head, and was already attacking another, swinging the hammer around in a tornado of iron death. Luca was still on her first kill, and in the next few seconds the beast was ripped apart. Cynthia was taking pot shots at all of the Giaprey, weakening them for the other hunters to finish them off.

Roderick could not run anymore, he could only walk as he carried his heavy bone sword through the snow and prepare himself as another beast lunged at him with its fangs splayed open in its mouth. He hit the Giaprey in the side of the head with the side of his sword, making the blue raptor stumble about in confusion. He flipped the sword around and slashed at the monster's neck with the toothed blade. The monster's head was barely hanging on by a few threads of flesh and scales as its body slumped to the ground and blood marked the snow. Asher smashed another one in the jaw and stepped back when he saw Roderick swing down and snap the Giaprey's back in half with his sword. Luca stabbed another Giaprey through the bottom of its jaw as Cynthia shot the final one to death in a hail of bowgun rounds.

The snow that was kicked up during the struggle began to settle down and the four hunters breathed like they hadn't in days. They were tired and rightfully so, not a single one of them had a scratch on their chassis.

"Good job guys!" Cynthia called as she walked over to the three other hunters. Roderick stabbed his sword into the ground and leaned against it as he spit onto the snow.

"That was a rush." Roderick said as he caught his breath. "I guess we should get to carving." He removed his carving knife from its sheath on his lower back and kneeled down before his kill. He was about to dig the blade into the scales of the beast, but he heard a call of some kind in the distance and getting closer. A call similar to the Giaprey, but louder and more powerful. Luca readied her sword again.

"Did anyone else hear that?" she asked.

"Yeah," Asher said as he grabbed the hilt of his hammer, "You're not crazy, I can hear it too."

Three Giaprey came bounding through the crevice in between the rocks to the north and they were followed closely behind by an even larger Giaprey at least two times bigger than its brethren. It had a much larger crest that was an intense shade of teal, and its claws were larger and sharper too. Roderick set his sword forward again.

"It's a Giadrome!" he said.

The leader of the Giaprey pack cackled and its brothers leapt forward at the hunters with more zeal than their previous quarries. Compared to their leader, the Giaprey would be more of an annoyance than anything. The Giadrome charged forward, its fangs dripping with saliva and ready for its next meal. Roderick barely had time to block the Alpha-male's attack as it rammed its head against the bone sword and pushed the hunter back through the snow. Asher killed the Giaprey that had set upon him and he rushed toward the pack leader to assist his friend. Cynthia and Luca were still dealing with their own attackers.

Asher shouted as he brought the hammer down on the knee of the Giadrome. The beast only staggered slightly; it was tougher than they had thought. The monster whipped its tail around and struck Asher in the chest, knocking him back into the snow. Since it was distracted with Asher, Roderick wound up and hit the beast in its chest, just barely ripping some of the scales off and spilling miniscule amounts of blood. The Giadrome turned back to face Roderick and roared at him, sending spit flying at him. Before it could attack however, Cynthia placed a few rounds of her bowgun into its sides, stunning it momentarily. It hissed and jumped back a full five metres with its extremely powerful legs. Luca pulled her blade from the corpse of the Giaprey that she had killed and ran to join her partners. Roderick helped Asher to his feet as the Giadrome continued to snarl at them.

"Can we take this thing?" Luca asked as she stood ready for the raptor to leap back. It did not.

"We should be able to." Admitted Roderick, "Though one of us might get injured." Asher scoffed.

"Injuries heal. My pride doesn't, so I'm not gonna let this thing get away after it hit me like that!" he readied his hammer and motioned for the other hunters to follow him into battle. They did, with their weapons displayed before their prey. The Giadrome roared and turned to the side. The hunters had no clue what it was doing but they did not stop charging it. The beast did a full body slam to the side, right at the three hunters. Asher and Luca jumped out of the way, but Roderick dug his sword into the ground and held his position with all of his might as the monster threw all of its weight against the side of the blade. Amazingly, the sword stayed where it had been placed, having been dug deep enough into the ground that it could not be pushed.

"NOW!" Roderick screamed with the monstrous creature leaned against his blade. Asher hit the beast in the back of its leg with his hammer and managed to hit a sweet spot, because the monster cringed and fell down onto one knee. Luca jumped onto the Giadrome's back and placed her sword deep into its hind. It shrieked in pain as it tried to shake off its aggressor in vain. Roderick pulled his blade from the ground and watched as the monster that had all of its weight on the sword fell onto its side, narrowly missing trapping Luca's leg underneath its torso. As the creature struggled to rise to its feet, Roderick charged up his sword and a red aura of energy began to gather around the blade. He screamed as he brought the blade down on the Giadrome's neck and cleaved its head right off like an executioner at the block.

Once again everyone's breathing was less than healthy sounding.

"Is everyone okay!?" Roderick shouted as he fell to the snow and filled his lungs.

"I think we're all good." Asher said as he leaned against his hammer. Luca left her blade in the raptor's hide and she rested upon its corpse. Cynthia walked over and felt the scales of the beast through her gloves. The Rathian bowgun was placed securely on her back.

"Do you want me to signal the village?" Cynthia asked. Roderick looked up at the girl and smiled.

"Go right ahead."

* * *

The carts from the village wheeled ahead on the dirt path back to their home. Roderick and the three other hunters rode on top of the pile of Giaprey corpses that were roped to the cart. Two large Aptonoth pulled the cart forward as two other hunters pulled on their reins to guide them from beside the beasts. Makoto walked up beside the cart and smiled at Roderick.

"This is an impressive haul, Rod!" he said in his thunderous warrior's voice.

"We're an impressive lot, I'm sure you'll find!" Roderick shouted back from his seat atop the body of the Giadrome. The two of them laughed as the cart continued its rocky course back to the settlement. Makoto's head shot up all of a sudden and he turned back toward the east where the Aptonoth were facing. The gentle beasts reared up as they spotted what was in the sky. The sky beast was flying to the north luckily and away from them. It was at least a mile away.

A massive orange dragon with blue stripes across its scaled body flew across the sky in a gliding manner as it scarcely flapped its reptilian wings. Its snout was short and flat, but its mouth was filled to the brim with razor sharp fangs. This particular individual had a wound across its left eye that seemed to be fresh.

"The Tigrex!" Makoto said as he grabbed the hilt of his katana. "Be ready if it comes this way!" he called to the rest of the caravaneers. The Tigrex let out a roar that was clearly audible even from such a distance. Roderick froze up as he continued to stare at the pseudo-wyvern.

"Is that the Rex that got Sybil?" he asked. Makoto seemed reluctant to answer, but he knew it was better not to hide the truth. He just hoped that the boy would not do anything brash.

"Yes. I gave him that scar and I'd recognize that ugly mug anywhere."

Roderick clenched his hands into fists and bit down on his lip to stop himself from running after it, no matter how futile a chase it would be. That was the monster that took away his mentor, and he had to watch it fly away with nothing more than a scratch to pay for its evils. Makoto saw the look on Roderick's face.

"We won't let him walk free for much longer," he said, "When we finally take his head you can hang it over the mantle. That's a promise."

Luca dug her sword into the hide of one of the Giaprey.

"How long will that take?" she asked as she snarled up at the sky.

"However long it takes to train you to fight a true monster." Makoto answered. Roderick glared up at the orange striped wyvern.

"As long as we kill it eventually, it could take a life time for all I care." He said with anger in his eyes. He ripped out one of the pale blue scales from the Giadrome's hide and glanced over it probingly. These scales would not be enough to armor himself against a Tigrex; no, he would need much more impressive and tough monster corpses if he wanted to have a ghost of a chance against the roaring wyvern. Until then he would have to settle for the scraps that had been thrown to them. Maybe it would take a lifetime after all.


End file.
